Sunday, November 14, 2021

By the numbers

The numbers are going back up. 

On October 25, the 7-day average of daily new cases of Coronavirus in the US was just over 70,000 as national cases continued to decline from a mid-September peak of 175,00 as the Delta variant raged through the country, especially the South.

The 7-day average has been climbing again all week, and is now over 80,000 new cases every day. The low on October 25 was still higher than the spring peak of April 15, meaning the country has had sustained new cases of over 70,000 a day for seven months, or 214 days.

The daily average hit a low in the summer after strict adherence to social distancing and lockdown was in place along with early vaccination uptake.  

The July 3 average of  12,628 was inspiring. We hadn't seen numbers that low since March 2020, and many of us believed we had turned a corner in putting pandemic concerns behind us. Then the Delta variant got a foothold in the US. Delta had made big news in the UK despite greater lockdown measures and higher vaccination rates, so the impact in the US should have been obvious, but we opened up again anyway. 

Vaccination adoption is our only hope, given that there is zero political will for lockdowns and mask wearing is lackadaisical at best.

The virus is making its way through the upper Midwest, and shows no sign of stopping. One wonders who is left to catch the disease. Vaccination rates in the States have stalled out, with the country still below 60% fully vaccinated, even during rollout of a pediatric dose.